Phantasy Star III

Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom, known in Japan as Successors of Time: Phantasy Star III, is a 1990 role-playing video game developed and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. The third main installment in the Phantasy Star series, it is the first title to not be developed with the involvement of series co-creator Yuji Naka. The game's plot spans three generations, following the journey of the prince Rhys and his descendants as they attempt to resolve an escalating conflict between two warring factions. Much of the gameplay elements from its predecessors, derived from traditional Japanese role-playing game tropes such as random encounters, are either retained or altered with additional changes such as an icon-based menuing system.

After the completion of Phantasy Star II (1989), most of its development staff went on to work on Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), leading to a new team being formed for Phantasy Star III composed of people who had never previously worked on role-playing games. Assisted by series veteran Rieko Kodama in its planning stages, the team decided to implement branching narrative paths as a way to differentiate the game from the crowded market of the time. However, due to issues stemming from data storage constraints, many concepts such as parts of the narrative needed to be cut in order to fully realize the game's features.

Upon release, the game garnered critical acclaim for its multi-generational plot and alternative endings. Since then, upon further retrospective evaluation, it has additionally been criticized for its divergences from prior Phantasy Star titles and is now considered as the black sheep of the series because of this.

Gameplay

Phantasy Star III mostly follows the traditional turn-based role-playing game formula seen throughout the series, with the exploration of several 2-D worlds, character recruitment, and random enemy encounters using a turn-based battle system.